Cunningham's Response to "Who Stole The CMU-Togit Kobe Decks?"

[Editor's Note: Yesterday, we published an article by Antonino De Rosa discussing how Togit's testing decks for Pro Tour: Kobe were acquired and fingering who exactly did the acquiring. As Antonino noted in the forums, the purpose of his article was not to savage Jeff Cunningham or his actions (though many people felt that this was the regrettable result), but instead was to try and ask some questions about whether undertaking certain actions to obtain a competitive advantage can be considered"taking things too far."

Speaking from personal experience, I'm a big fan of both Jeff's work and of Jeff as a person, and I was surprised to find him mixed up in this situation to begin with. Antonino's article didn't change my regard for Jeff at all, but it did make me wonder what I would have done in similar circumstances, which is what Ant intended. There were valid points brought up in the forums about how much damage was actually done to Togit's testing, and how responsible they are for using insecure testing methods, and the whole issue definitely has a shade of grey to it, which is probably what made it so interesting to our readers in the first place.

As promised, here's Jeff's response to Antonino De Rosa's article.]

Hello,

I would like to note that I feel Antonino's article addresses this issue in an irresponsible fashion.

Firstly, many of the testimonies included near the bottom are not only unnecessarily hurtful, some are completely fabricated - I should know, I'm the one that made most of them up... as jokes. (Gerard Fabiano, Mike Turian, Ben Stark, Josh Ravitz)

Secondly, despite Antonino's statement that no Togit player would behave like that, I've spoken to many that say they would have. Also, one says he has stated this fact in (online) discussions with the team-- discussion in which Antonino was present. (Ben Stark)

Thirdly, I never"went out of [my] way to log on [Togit] team members' accounts,"--Moderator status allowed me to watch, by way of a single right-click, casual games that had unwatchable status. It seems to me that we are being presented with a pretty thin line between what Togit deems acceptable and what they do not. Having mod powers, and then right-clicking to watch a private game is"going out of my way to steal from my friends," yet not examining YMG's leaked information in the weeks leading up to New Orleans"would have been unprofessional"? Please. This article operates from a considerable bias.

I do not know why Antonino wouldn't at least do a cursory check of his information before posting something of this nature.

That said, take his article for what you will. I think it at least touches at the true debate, and that's something.

I have directed my own formal, and private apology to my friends at Togit. I did not take individual friendships into account when I did this (I thought of it as a team thing,) but I should've. It was a scummy thing to do, and I'll never do anything like this again.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Eugene Harvey for being one of the group celebrating Aeo's victory in the fifteenth round of the Pro Tour against him (for top 8). Aeo is a player that I play with every day, and I was ecstatic. Perhaps especially so in the face of Gary Wise's mid-round illogical instance that Aeo should've accepted Eugene's desperation draw ("he should've known Eugene would've compensated him!") However, Eugene is right-- this behavior was absolutely inappropriate, and I'm sorry, because he's a great guy and doesn't deserve that kind of insensitivity.

About Jeff Cunningham

Jeff Cunningham is an oldschool Magic Pro from the Bronze Age of the Pro Tour. He has over 150 lifetime Pro Points, a PT Top 8 at San Diego '02, and a GP win at Philedelphia '02. He's also recognized as a prominent Magic writer, with numerous articles and tournament reports all over the web.